Gareth Southgate has barely had time to process England's semi-final exit before his name started appearing on someone else's wanted list. ESPN have tipped the former Three Lions boss as a candidate to replace Mauricio Pochettino as United States head coach — and the logic isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.
Pochettino's USMNT tenure is effectively on life support. His side were thumped 4-1 by Belgium in the Round of 16, and with his contract expiring this summer, a parting of ways looks the most likely outcome. Links to a Premier League return and the AC Milan job — since filled — haven't exactly suggested a man committed to staying put.
Why Southgate actually makes sense here
ESPN senior editor Caitlin Murray made the case bluntly: "The USMNT needs a manager with a proven track record on the international level and in tournament soccer. On that basis, Southgate warrants a look."
She's not wrong. The argument against Pochettino — and against the wave of club coaches who crossed into international management before this tournament — is that the skills don't transfer cleanly. Eight-game tournaments are a different animal from a 38-game league season. Southgate spent nearly eight years learning exactly that, guiding England to a World Cup semi-final, a quarter-final, and back-to-back European Championship finals. He understands the format in a way Pochettino, Ancelotti, and Nagelsmann clearly didn't.
With the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, USMNT qualification is now structurally guaranteed. That removes the pressure valve that was masking tactical problems. The 2030 World Cup is the real target — and whoever takes the job needs to build toward it, not paper over cracks.
Tuchel keeps his job, for now
Back in England, Thomas Tuchel survived the post-tournament noise despite a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina drawing sharp criticism for some of his in-game decisions. The FA and chief executive Mark Bullingham have kept faith with the German, who signed a deal running through Euro 2028.
Two years minimum, then. England's betting markets will need to factor in a coach who keeps his job not because he's won anything, but because the FA isn't ready to pull the trigger again so soon after the Southgate era.
As for Southgate himself — 55, out of work for two years, and suddenly relevant again. Pochettino, after the Belgium result, said only: "I'm sure in the next weeks we can start to talk if [U.S. Soccer] wants to talk." That door isn't closed. Neither, apparently, is Southgate's.
